Katz Paces Duke in Southern Highlands First Round

Sunday, March 1

Las Vegas, Nev.

All Day

Duke University

Day One at Southern Highlands Collegiate

Head men's golf coach Jamie Green talks with Evan Katz during a round.

Photo by: Tim Cowie

Katz Paces Duke in Southern Highlands First Round

3/1/2020 10:21:00 PM | Men's Golf

First Round Results Live Scoring

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Junior Evan Katz carded a 1-under par 71 to lead the No. 4 Duke men's golf team on Sunday in the first round of the Southern Highlands Collegiate at the Southern Highlands Golf Club in Las Vegas, Nev.

Katz's 71, his seventh under-par round this season, has the junior tied for fourth on the individual leaderboard through 18 holes. As a team, the Blue Devils are tied for eighth place after posting an opening-round 12-over par 300.

USC leads the 15-team field, which features nine ranked teams, including the nation's top-four ranked teams. The unranked Trojans opened Sunday with a 1-under 287, leading No. 13 Texas (+4), No. 24 UCLA (+5), No. 6 Texas Tech (+7) and Florida (+7) in the top five.

Katz went out in 1-under 35, which included birdies on Nos. 2, 5 and 9, while his even-par 36 on the back featured birdies on Nos. 11 and 18. As a team, four of the five Blue Devils in the lineup birdied the par-5 ninth hole.

USC's Yuxin Lin and Georgia's Davis Thompson each shot 5-under 67 in Sunday's first round and lead the tournament by a stroke over UCLA's Devon Bling.

Katz is in a group of six tied at 1-under, with senior Chandler Eaton tied for 14th at 1-over 73. Eaton opened his round with a bogey-free 4-under 32 on the front, but stumbled on the back with a 5-over 41.

Junior Adrien Pendaries is tied for 40th at five-over par, 77 with junior Qi wen Wong tied for 70th (+7) and senior Steven DiLisio tied for 74th (+8). Playing as an individual, sophomore Quinn Riley is also tied for 70th (+7).

The 54-hole tournament resumes Monday with the second round. Duke will be paired with SMU and Oklahoma on Monday, with tee times beginning at 12 p.m. ET.

Duke Scoring
T4. Evan Katz (71, -1)
T21. Chandler Eaton (73, +1)
T40. Adrien Pendaries (77, +5)
T70. Qi wen Wong (79, +7)
T74. Steven DiLisio (80, +8)

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